I smoked over a pack a day for 15 years and got really overweight. Now I'm an endurance junkie with lots of marathons, century rides, half and full ironmans, and ultramarathons under my belt. Check back often to watch the progress from smoking 26.2 cigarettes a day to running 26.2 miles, or from Iron Lung to Ironman.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Nick is the Man

Nick is the freakin man. He's just like me if you replace the gay parts with iron parts. He's in Columbia SC, just over an hour east of Greenville. He's a programmer, got the wife, 3 kids (I only have 2) that are about the same age as my kids. Good Christian father & husband and all around ok guy, from what I can tell at least. But that's where the similarities end.

He posted yesterday a response to a comment I left him, and the data will show where the similarities end. Nick's trying to qualify for Kona this year as an age-grouper. We're running a lot of the same races this year in the SCTS circuit, so I've been talking smack (i.e. lying) about making him look slow. He's got sponsors, trains 20 hours a week over at least 15 workouts, has 8% body fat. My eyes kept getting bigger as I read the post. So I would encourage you to give it a read. It really makes me want to plan more and double check my focus.

Wifey is out doing her 22 mile run right now on the treadmill. She's crazy. Tomorrow I'm going back out to the lake at Furman for my 22 miler. This is the last long long run on the training plan. The remaining saturday runs are 12, 8, 26.2 miles. So going into a marathon taper is not exactly the best time to mentally get really excited about tri training. I'm going to stick to the pool 2 days a week, and bike some more. And I'm more than likely going to take at least a week off after the marathon. So when tri training really starts to ramp back up at the end of feb, I don't want the ramp to be too steep.

Last night I finished reading Going Long. I understand this is a fairly popular tri training book. It was really cool, and really gave a good explanation of several tri concepts. So it was a really good read. It makes the ironman distance look achievable and exposes the harshest difficulties at the same time. very cool. Flynn Recommends.

Also, my recent shipments have arrived. The new Laird Hamilton book (Forces of Nature) looks awesome! About every 3rd page is a picture of him, so it's a pretty quick read. I can't wait do dive in, but it looks like Wifey and my MIL are laying hands on it first. Can't say I blame them. Mind, Body, Soul and Surfing from the fittest family in America with all of those pics is a woman's dream. The Strength Training for Triathletes book I bought at the same time looks really good too. I might take it in first, while they sodomize Forces of Nature for a while.

Also, (bum-ba-da-da) trumpets blaring: My trainer and pedals arrived yesterday. Everyone has a story of how they pulled up to a stop sign, couldn't get their feet out of the pedals fast enough, so they just fell over. I'm going this route first:

until I feel comfortable getting in and out of the pedals. It's going to be nice to get some hours on my bike while it's so cold outside. And as soon as I write that, it's not that cold outside. High today: 60 deg, tomorrow 58. So it's going to be nice and warm for my run. And that really makes me want to take the bike out today, fall down and enjoy the sunshine. Maybe i'll drag the trainer outside. But it is my first attempt with clipless pedals, so it should be interesting at least.

I can't believe your wife is logging 22-miles on the treadmill! I hate the 'dreadmill' as I like to think of it. I have to put 5-miles in on it this weekend because it's too cold too run outside and I'm really not looking forward to it!

I'll have to check out that book I've always wanted to do a tri but I'm not very good at riding bikes..

I love book reviews so please post your opinion of the strength training for triathletes book! I could use some help in that area but haven't seen a book that looked worth buying. Here in NC it was 59 degrees today and PERFECT for running (although it was a trifle weird to be running in short sleeves with snow on the ground). I was sad my base miles weren't up higher b/c I really wanted to go longer. Enjoy your weekend!

Oh dear god, that is a long time on the treadmill. I think I did 13 once and I hated every second of it.

You'll easily get the hang of the pedals. One thing that helped me was that every time I slowed, I would clip out of my right side, and I would also say in my head, clip out. Almost like a reminder. I still have fallen over a few times, but only scratches, nothing serious. Rock on!

About Me

I am a sterotype living Raleigh, NC with the wife and 2 kids. 40+, endurance junkie with a penchant for marathons, trail, and triathlon races. It keeps me smoke free and happy. I also enjoy organic gardening and healthy eating, and work as a software developer.